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Topic: Hand Tremors - Mind over Matter (Read 422 times)

So, about a week ago I casually noticed that my hand was trembling when I had it in an awkward position. Since that day, I have been constantly checking my hands to see if they are trembling or shaking (I have a deep fear of having an essential tremor that will turn me into a social outcast). I am constantly stretching my arms out in front of me and looking to see if my hands/fingers are trembling. 98% of the time, they are perfectly fine - almost statue-like, but once in a while I can notice that my fingers are trembling a little. Honestly, no one else would probably notice but me, and it could be because I am looking at them so intently, but I am convinced that I have a hand tremor of some kind. My trembling increases with stress, anger or excitement and doesn't happen all the time. My worry is that I may be getting tremors because I am constantly thinking about them and checking for them. Does this sound like something that any one of you has experienced? Could it be caused by my anxiety? Is it normal for one's hands to tremble a little bit when their arms are stretched out?

I constantly check my hands, too. I am trying to stop checking and other reassurance-seeking behaviors. It's an ongoing battle to be sure.

I freaked out about this same thing. My spouse and another friend of mine put their hands in the same positions I was adopting, and their fingers trembled, too. So the rational part of my brain concluded it was fairly normal.

Thank you very much for your responses! I feel weird asking my friends and family to stretch their arms out to see if their hands/fingers shake so I greatly appreciate your input! I guess I've never put much thought into what my hands/fingers do when my arms are stretched out. Could it also be that my concern about hand tremors is actually causing them to occur?

My therapist says that our minds can manufacture symptoms -- in other words, our concern about/focus on a part of our bodies can cause real symptoms. There is, for instance, conversion disorder -- where a person displays neurological symptoms when there is no physical cause.

Apart from stop Googling advice, I also wanted to share another thing that I found very beneficial for lowering my anxiety.

If you have symptoms that are produced buy movement, touch, like in your case, stop checking for them completely. In your case, stop stretching your arms to see if they tremble or not. Decide that you will only do it once a week, once, on Monday for example and that's it.

I am currently doing that thing for my symptoms, electric impulses produced with touch. I found out that no matter how much I try to reassure myself with touching and checking, it definitely raises my anxiety. And when I am not checking, my anxiety raises briefly and then drops significantly since I eventually forget about it.

I honestly cannot thank each of you enough for all of your help and guidance - it is greatly appreciated! I've decided that what I suffer from is more psychological then physical and that is what I need to overcome. From what research I've done, it is normal for there to be some physical movement when one stretches out their arms. Muscles twitch and move in an effort to maintain a fixed position and that causes our arms and fingers to tremble and shake. The more stress on your arm, the more it's going to work to attempt to maintain that fixed position.

I've experimented with my trembling and seen that what I may suffer from is a physiological tremor (which 100% of people experience) and psychogenic tremors (which are created and perpetuated in one's mind). Psychogenic tremors have no physical origin or development, but are a result of mental focus on tremors which can be brought about for various reasons - for example, hypochondria.

What I have found is that if I catch myself experiencing a tremor and can't stop focusing on it, then it antagonizes the part of my brain that fears tremors. Without knowing it, my body attempts to keep my hand in a fixed position to eliminate the tremor, which causes my body more stress, thus making the tremor worse and more pronounced. What I have learned to do is distract myself when these panic attacks occur. I will find an external source and focus on that for a few moments which will cause my focus to shift from my hands and allow them to relax.

I had a tremor this morning, so I began to tap my fingers together for a brief moment - as soon as I did that, I looked over at my hand and it was completely still. This method allows me to take a mental detour from my anxiety trigger and give my body and mind a minute to collect themselves. Like a child who isn't receiving validation for their bad behavior, they eventually stop because no one is paying attention to them.

I also love the idea about not symptom checking everyday to help eliminate that sense of obsession. So, having said that, I have whole week to enjoy before I have to check for symptoms again. My hope is that with my new sense of insight and control over this matter, within a few weeks, I won't need to check anymore and will began to focus more on my larger sense of anxiety and not just what it is creating.

It's perfectly normal for hands to shake when anxious! I had myself into a health anxiety state so bad last Saturday that I was embarrassed to hand over a check in the bank because I was shaking so bad! I laid it on the counter and pushed it toward the teller because I felt stupid!(I just had 2 cups of coffee so my hand is trembling a bit) not to worry, you're fine

So, is it fairly common for your fingers to "shiver" when you stretch out your arms and hold your arms and hands in front of you (pointing forward)? Would this be considered a tremor? If so, would it be considered an essential tremor or just a physiological tremor?

If you are anxious, yes it's normal. If you aren't anxious or worried about anything then no, people don't generally tremble like that, but you obviously ARE in a state of anxiety. It IS normal for it to have shook in an awkward position, that happens at times, but then you started focusing on it and getting upset, so then you started to get shakey.